Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.

The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers.

The three things that motivate creative people - autonomy, mastery, purpose!

Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.

Asking "Why?" can lead to understanding. Asking "Why not?" can lead to breakthroughs.

All of us want to be part of something bigger than ourselves, something that matters.

The misuse of extrinsic rewards, so common in business, impedes creativity, stifles personal satisfaction and turns play into work.

Greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible. Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one's sights and pushing toward the horizon.

Do what you can't and experience the beauty of the mistakes you make.

In many professions, what used to matter most were abilities associated with the left side of the brain: linear, sequential, spreadsheet kind of faculties. Those still matter, but they're not enough.

When the reward is the activity itself--deepening learning, delighting customers, doing one's best--there are no shortcuts.

I am a rock in a sea of despair and yearning. Take hold of me and together we may form an island of hope and plenty.

The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.

The last thing we need to do, relating to teachers, is the key to a good education in this country is a strong teacher. I would have a minimum wage for all our teachers, $40,000 per year.

A person must try to worry about the things that aren't important, so that he won't worry about the things that are.

We are a diverse country, but we are one country. And we are at our best when we come together as Americans, not despite our differences, but in celebration of them.

I have a really terrible sense of direction.

It is a very common failing, never to be pleased with our fortune nor displeased with our character.

Every actress hopes to play a wide range of characters because not often you dont.

If we do want to do that [ colonise space to survive, ], then vacuous materialism is not going to be enough for us.

We have endorsements of our plan from key leaders within the environmental movement. That doesn't mean that it includes the whole environmental movement.